Tag Archives: pumpkin

Years ago I told my friend Emily “Someday, I’m going to be really really fat. But I won’t be sad because I’ll have elastic waist pants and ice cream”

I had quite the elastic waist pants obsession

But then I discovered if I eat like a normal person I have a pretty rad metabolism. Can I eat whatever I want and be a size two? Hells no. But eating whatever I want has never put into ElasticWaistVille.

Which is kinda sad. Because I seriously did want some.

But Jesus loves me so ElasticWaistVille became TRENDY.

Yesterday I realized I really truly needed some jeggings. I texted my husband. He thought I was joking.

Joke’s on you husband.
Me + Elastic Waist = True Love 4EVAH

They’re like maternity pants on top
I love ’em.

The lack of being taken seriously has been going on for years.

In undergrad I was a sociology major. People would ask “what are you going to do with that?”

I’d answer “become a housewife!”

Sure, they laughed then. But yesterday did I go to work, or did I do 3 loads of laundry and make pumpkin bread?
Yeah I was serious.

Also a serious fact?

When crack oranges* come into season I talk about eating my body weight in them.
People think I’m joking but seriously, I think I ate 6 yesterday.
*crack oranges = satsuma mandarins. They’re addictive. Like crack. Crack that prevents scurvy.

I looked through my pictures today, and wasn’t sure what to write about…. Yesterday was just so…. basic.

The most exciting thing I’ve been doing lately is watching the cat play with her pepper box

(that’s a box. With peppers in it. She loves it. She drags those stupid peppers everywhere. I found seven in the kitchen today. And one in the guest room. She’s advanced for her age)

But really? Are basics so bad?

Yesterday I made us both oats for breakfast

(yup I followed up a salad with the most normal breakfast evahhh. I am large, I contain multitudes.)

My husband has oats for breakfast a lot. I lovingly make them. In the microwave, with water.

Since I was having some too they were made on the stove, with part milk, and were also half oat bran, rather than just normal oats.

He loved them.

I feel a little guilty now.

(So guilty in fact that I made him French Toast today. Seriously.)

I put some pumpkin and pumpkin cream cheese on mine

Is cream cheese a weird choice? I don’t know. But I have some in the fridge, and I’m perpetually convinced food is about to go bad. So I have to use it before my brain is convinced it’s coated in microscopic mold.

Breakfast also calls for some coffee

Carbs and caffiene. The basics to get your day going.

(Know what’s not basic? Water. I didn’t drink any till after work yesterday. Whoops.)

Lunch was, again, basic

Yogurt (that’s a half full container, with peanut flour and enough cinnamon to kill a puppy), banana, carrots.

And I had a day of teaching kindergarten that was basically a blast.

Dinner was something I don’t make nearly enough

Chicken veggie soup.

I always get all these ideas of soups to make and ignore the basic chicken soup. And that’s silly of me because it’s so darn good! And easy.

With bread
I could feed my husband basically anything with bread on the side and he’d be happy.

Not going to lie, I like me some basics.

What’s a super basic meal you love?

I like toast. A lot. Like a weird weird lot. But only if it’s made in the oven.

Yesterday afternoon I tried to shower. And the water would NOT get warm.

I didn’t think much of it, and scurried out of the shower, with plans to shower at night.

We had stroganoff for dinner

With broccoli and purple cauliflower (and no mushrooms of course)

Plus salad

And I tried to shower again.

Colder.

Like any adult woman would do, I called my daddy.

(I actually gave the fiance the choice of google or my daddy. He agreed with calling the ‘rents)

We stared at this

The fiance searched for any buttons on there to make it do something. That sucker has NOTHING you can mess with to at least make yourself feel like you’re trying to fix it.

I talked on the phone. I’m a good helper in situations like this.

After going over stuff with my daddy, he said to call someone. Thankfully we discovered that the hot water heater has a warranty.

But I’m teaching today, so I kinda needed to be not greasy. And cold showers are just not my thang. Mama pea told me on facebook that this is good practice for moherhood. But seeing as how the fiance hasn’t, you know, married me yet I figured I ought to do what I can to make sure it’s not single motherhood I’m preparing for. So off we went to the community center

For a hot shower. So worth it.

And of course, all this fun called for some of this

(pumpkin bread with pb and brown sugar on top, microwaved so it was warm. I think this might be a weird combo, but I’ve been doing it for years)

not to mention lots of this

Now I’m about to go off and learn some kids-it’s actually the class I student taught last spring. In the projects. Portland has projects, who knew?

What do you do when something in your house breaks? I swear, no matter the problem I call my parents before I do anything. I don’t even google first.

I spent all afternoon attacking the bread. To make sure it was good of course. Didn’t want to disappoint the fiance.

Besides pumpkin bread I actually managed to eat other food last night.

Pretty roasted veggies

Pot roast

Served with mashed potatoes and gravy

My old roommate told me once that only old people like pot roast. It’s pretty much the fiance’s favorite meal. But he kinda is an old man sometimes, so maybe there is truth to that…

We busted out some quality wine

Kirkland Signature. Heck yes.

And, of course, more pumpkin bread

My skills clearly lie more in eating and baking than in cutting. You should see when I try and slice French bread. It’s not pretty.

A few of you told me you’re scared to cook up pumpkin on your own.

I promise, if you can cook a squash, you can make your own pumpkin puree.

My mama grew up poor. And poor in a family with 7 kids. So I think I get a lot of my more frugal tendencies from her-shopping sales, coupons, and making things from scratch. (And also knowing when it’s ok to use a mix!). The basic mindset with doing out own pumpkin was we already bought the pumpkins for the jack-o-lanterns, so why not get thanksgiving pies out of them too?

All I did was chop up my jack-o-lantern into a couple pieces, and then cook it just like I would any other squash. When it was soft, I scooped the flesh off the skin with a spoon, and then stuck it in the blender. I had a little pumpkin and got about 4 cups out of it. My family got a bit more:

It’s a good thing we like pie.

Per several requests, here is the recipe, but if you use canned pumpkin you might need to add some water-homemade tends to have a slightly higher water content. Mine had a puddingish texture, if it seems too thick, it probably is. And you can add chocolate chips too if you’re, you know, makin’ it for a MAN

A few years ago I worked as a nurse’s aid in a retirement and assisted living facility.

It was a hard job-both physically (they kinda forgot to train me, and then would tell me to lift adults into wheelchairs. You can guess how great that made my back feel), and emotionally (what are you supposed to say to someone who is missing their husband who they were married to for 50 years?)

But it wasn’t without fun… Adorable couples who still loved each other, the woman who decided that since her family thought she was senile she might as well make up an imaginary friend (she was GREAT)

Early on, we had a resident who missed dinner. I was told to make him a sandwich. So I went in and made what seemed to me to be a HUGE sandwich. (Granted, I ate about 900 calories a day that summer, so huge is relative…)

Another aide came in, took one look at it and said “Honey, you’re makin’ it for a MAN. Don’t make it like you’re trying to feed yourself!” and proceeded to triple the amount of meat and cheese on it.

And I kept wanting to make it healthier. To add whole grains. To cut out the oil. To lower the sugar.

But the voice in the back of my head said “honey, you’re makin’ it for a MAN. Don’t make it like you’re trying to feed yourself” and I made it in full fat, full sugar, white flour glory. The first time I make the man pumpkin bread, I might as well do it right.

I had cooked down my halloween pumpkin

(canned pumpkin? What’s that? I don’t think I’ve bought canned pumpkin ever in my life. We always cooked down the Jack-O-Lanterns and thanksgiving pies, pumpkin bread, and all that good stuff was made out of frozen jack-o-lantern puree)

I used my mommy’s recipe, which is made for fresh (not canned) pumpkin, and got rave reviews every time I got a care package in college.

At my graduation one of my friends met my mom and said “I love you!” and hugged her.

She just stared a little till I explained “I shared some of my care packages with him”

I did quality control

It’s important you know!

One loaf with chocolate chips, and one plain. The fiance asked for the chocolate. I couldn’t say no. I was still in shock he wanted anything pumpkin.